Goodbye My Friend
by The Watch Stander
Summary: Spoilers for Sunday! A special person says goodbye the only way they can. Friendship my contribution to a wonderful character who will be sorely missed.


**Goodbye My Friend**

**Spoilers for Sunday and Tao of Rodney.**

I just had to do this for Carson.

Angst/friendship

The Watch Stander ©2007

A great big hug to all who review! Thank you so much.

8888888888888

The quiet of Atlantis surrounded Elizabeth Weir as she sat typing on her laptop in her office. It was way past midnight, but somehow she didn't want to face another night of tossing and turning; working here in the quiet of her office was a much better alternative. It had only been a week since the accident; she knew it was too early to hope that everything would get back to normal, or at least what could be considered normal.

Her senior staff had been the most affected by the sudden loss of their Doctor, Carson Beckett, he had been a friend to them all.

But of all of them, She knew Rodney had taken it the hardest, for the two men had been close friends and as much as they demeaned each other and argued, underneath was a mutual respect and close friendship. She was worried about Rodney and what Carson's loss would do to him and whether or not he could move on with his life.

Sighing, she wiped her eyes that had somehow started to water; it seemed that even she wasn't back to normal either. Every time she thought about the loss of Carson, this happened . . . it was going to take a while before even she could move on.

There was a light touch on her shoulder and for a moment she thought it might be Rodney, no one else would touch her without announcing themselves.

_John might, but he wasn't one to touch people, it must be Rodney_.

"What are you doing up so late?", she asked as she turned around, but no one was there. It was disconcerting, they couldn't have left that quickly, for her office door was still closed.

Rubbing the back of her neck ,she found herself suddenly thinking about how if Carson were here, he would be admonishing her about staying up this late.

She could almost hear him saying, 'It's time to go to bed, Lass, all this can wait till morning.'

Making the decision to do just that, she closed the laptop and headed out the door for bed.

Carson stood in the hall, watching her leave; satisfied that Elizabeth would get a good nights sleep.

All day he had made the rounds of Atlantis saying goodbye to his friends in his own way. None of them could see him, but that didn't matter; he had just watched them and then moved on to the next person that he wanted to see once more before he had to leave.

His closest friends were saved till last; Rodney would be next and he knew where to find him. The scientist was still sitting in his lab, head down on his desk asleep; exhaustion having finally claimed him after three days of no sleep.

This wasn't what the man needed, he should be in his own bed sleeping, not in a lab.

'Ah, Rodney, you need to get your rest; this isn't good for you, son...I wish I could help you.'

Carson felt the regret once more that he wasn't still here to watch over the acerbic scientist; to be sure that he was taken care of and watched over. The man would soon be ill if he kept this up night after night.

Rodney had taken Carson's death the hardest; unable to adjust, he did the only thing he could to avert the heartache, he worked in his lab...until he finally dropped.

'I'm sorry, Lad, I wish I could stay and watch out for you, but it's not meant to be.'

There was no way Carson could wake him, so he moved on after resting his hand gently on the back of Rodney's head.

The scientist slept on, unaware of Carson's presence by his side.

"Goodbye, my friend," Carson said, then left feeling sad that he couldn't help.

88888888

John was in the ordnance room, still staring down at his inventory sheets, thinking how much it sucked losing Carson. The memory of almost losing Rodney was still fresh in his mind as well; however Carson had managed to save him at the last minute. It had been so close...

One more life John had to Thank Carson for, but now he never would get the chance.

Fatigue washed over him and somehow the thought of Carson with his smiling face telling him 'it was time for bed', went through his mind. It suddenly seemed like a good idea; yawning, he got up and left for his quarters.

As Carson watched Sheppard walk away, the last thought he sent him was about Rodney.

John was half way down the hall when he had a sudden urge to check up on Rodney to be sure he was all right. The scientist had taken the loss of Carson very hard as they were close friends. McKay had been quiet and hard to find for the past week; Sheppard suspected Rodney hadn't been eating or sleeping well either.

If Carson were here, he would be pestering the scientist to take better care of himself. Now it was up to him to do the same and find out how McKay was doing.

He headed for Rodney's lab just to be sure the scientist wasn't burning the midnight oil.

Carson looked around him one more time, then a familiar voice called to him from the end of the hallway.

"Aye, I'm coming, Lass," he answered, as he started toward her.

As she waited for him, Pena stood there smiling that beautiful smile he remembered so well...

: Sniff,

FIN


End file.
